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fore he fmooths, and fits it more and more for ufe; fo, the fouls of faints are, at firft converfion, but rough caften, as it were; therefore the Lord, by vifiting of them, and manifefting himfelf to them in his ordinances, does more and more fit the veffel of mercy for a fill of the liquor of glory: hence thefe divine incomes now and then, that make them cry out, "O my foul thirfts for God, for the living God, when fhall I come and appear before God?" Pfal. xlii. 2. As the toffed mariner longs for the haven, the harbour; fo does the foul, that hath met with God in ordinances, long to meet with him in heaven. As one tells us, "That when once "the Gauls of old had tafted of the fweet wine that was "made of the grapes of Italy, nothing would fatisfy them "but Italy, Italy;" fo the foul that once taftes of the goodnefs of God, and fweetnefs of Chrift, and the grapes of Paradise, nothing fatisfies that foul at fuch a time, but, O Paradife, Paradife! O to be in glory's land, in Immanuel's land! O to be for ever with the Lord! is true, as the Lord is fovereign, and fometimes hides his face from his children in thefe ordinances, and facramental folemnities, infomuch, that they go mourning without the fun: fo, the meafures of his communications are various; fometimes more bright and glorious, and fometimes more dark and cloudy: but as we enjoy the light and benefit of the fun, even when we cannot fee it, because of the clouds; fo believers do fometimes enjoy much of the light, and heat, and warmth of the Sun of righteoufnefs, even when, by reafon of many clouds, they cannot fee him fo clearly as at other times; however, every glance of his glory, in thefe galleries of ordinances, hath fuch a foul-gathering influence, fuch an heart-drawing virtue, that this harvest-time may be called a gathering-feafon; while all the faculties of the foul, all the affections of the heart are gathered to, and centered on Chrift, and longing to be gathered about the throne, to fee him face to face. And this leads me to the fourth and last period, with refpect to the seafon of this gathering of the people to Shiloh.

4thly, The gathering feafons may be confidered, with relation to the confummate gathering of the faints;

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and of this final gathering there are two feafons, namely, the day of death, and the day of judgment.

1. The day of death is a gathering day to the faints; for then Chrift gathers his lilies to himfelf; My beloved is gone down into his garden, to gather lilies, Cant. vi. 2. When the lilies are ripe, he gathers them into his bofom; he picks up one here, and another there; and indeed fonie of the fweeteft fmelling lilies in all the garden of his church, particularly in this and fome neighbouring prefbyteries, hath the Lord been lately gathering and among the reft, that lily that ufed to caft fuch a favoury gofpel-fmell, at former folemnities here; you cannot but know what I mean: but, O Sirs, if God fhall gather up all the fairest and fweetest of his lilies from among us, our garden will become but unbeautiful and unfavoury: the beauty and favour is gone, when the lilies are gathered; unlefs the Lord himfelf fhall make other fuch lilies to grow up in their room. I remember that one of the laft favoury fmells that that lily caft among us, at the laft years folemnity, was in the pleafant opening of that word, "Now, we fee thro' a glafs darkly, but then face to face:" and, no doubt, it was in the profpect of being gathered to the place of immediate vifion, and full enjoyment of God and the Lamb. And indeed a time of death is a time of gathering of the faints to glory, where their dark, and partial, and tranfient enjoyment of God here, is turned to a clear, full, perfect, permanent, and uninterrupted enjoyment: for then, they know him, as they are known; " And there is no temple there; for the Lord God Almighty, and the Lamb are the temple of it," Rev. xxi. 12.--And therefore, to him, as the temple in heaven, fhall the gathering of the people be. Hence, death to the godly is called a gathering, Gen. xlix. 33. It is faid of Jacob, when he died, "He was gathered unto his people:" why, one would think, he was rather taken away from his people; for he was dying, and all his children and grand-children about him; yea, but he had people elfewhere, and better company, that he was going to, even the general affembly and church of the firft-born, that are written in heaven, the fpirits of juft men made perfect, and all the

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faints that had gone before him. O Sirs, see what company ye choofe now; if ye be of the wicked and ungodly, your death will be but a gathering to the devil and reprobates in hell; if you lofe heaven at the firft fhot of death, you are gone for ever: when a man fhoots at a mark in his life-time, if he, mifs at one shot, he may fhoot another, and fhoot again and again, till he hit; but if you mifs heaven at the first shot of death, you are not to live again to fhoot another fhot for it: therefore, let your lite now be a preffing towards the mark; a fhooting at the right mark, a gathering to Shiloh for thefe that are gathered to him graciously in life, will be gathered glorioufly to him at death; for then, the fouls of believers do immediately pafs into glory; when their bodies are laid in the duft, their fouls are gathered to their people in heaven, where Chrift is the centre of the affembly; "And fo fhall we be ever with the Lord," 1 Thef. iv. 17. There are angels and arch-angels in heaven, there are faints and feraphims there; but all will not make a heaven without Chrift; he is the light of the place, and the heart of the company for ever, and to him fhall the gathering of the people be. But then,

2. The day of judgment will be a moft remarkable feafon of the confummate gathering of his people to him: the text indeed speaks mainly of Chrift's first coming in the flesh, The Sceptre fhall not depart from Judab, till Shilob come, and to him shall the gathering of the people be ; but it will be alfo true of his fecond coming in the clouds of heaven; for then will he gather his faints together unto him, thefe that have made a covenant with him by ficrifice, Pfal. 1. 5. Therefore the apoftle joins his fecond coming, and his glorious gathering together; "We befeech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jefus Chrift, and by our gathering together unto him,' 2 Thef. ii. I. "Then will he fend his angels, with the great found of a trumpet, and they fhall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to another," Matthew xxiv. 31.; wherever the wind of providence hath driven their duft. Though the duft of the believer's body may be fcattered to all

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corners of the earth and fea, and refolved to the original elements, of which it was at firft compounded; yet God will gather it all together again, when he makes the earth to give up its dead, and the fea to give up its dead, Rev. xx. 13. And therefore, Tho' worms deftroy this body, yet in their flefh fhall they fee God, according to the words of Job, wherein he expreffeth his faith of the happy refurrection, Job xix. 25. "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he fhall ftand at the latter day upon the earth;" for then, as God will gather together their scattered bones and duft, fo he will bring their glorified fouls along with him; "Them which fleep in Jefus, will God bring with him," 1 Theff. iv. 14. and he will reunite these two intimate friends, foul and body; they fhall meet with one-another, and meet the Lord in the air.

O my brethren, let none of us think it incredible, that God fhould raife the dead; for, in that day when Shiloh comes again, he will gather together and make up all his jewels, Mal. iii. 17. Though his jewels be lying among the duft, yet he will feparate his jewel-duft from the rest of the duft; for, as Chrift is the Loadftone, that draws the hearts of people to him, that are gathered to him by his grace now, according to his own word, "When I am lifted up, I will draw all men unto me;" fo, at his fecond coming, he will be the glorious Load-ftone, that will draw all the precious duft of his faints together to him. Any of you who know the virtue of the load-ftone will know this, (which I have fometimes tried with a load-ftone in my hand) let the filings of fteel, never fo fmall, be mixed with duft, fo as it is impoffible, you would think, to separate the duft of the fteel from the duft of the other earth; yet, if you bring near the load-ftone, all the filings of the fteel will feparate from the reft, and fly up to the load-ftone, in the tenth part of the twinkling of an eye. Well, if the load-ftone have fuch a virtue, what must be the virtue of him who gave virtue to it? Whenever Shiloh comes in the clouds of heaven, behold, in the twinkling of an eye, all the redeemed that fleep in the duft will be gathered; the glorious Load-ftone will put forth its vir

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tue, and they will be all drawn to him in a moment, I Cor. xv. 52. 1 Thef. iv. 16, 17. There is the confummate gathering of the people to Shiloh.

It is true, the day of judgment will be a feparating day, the fheep will be feparate from the goats, and the wheat from the tares, Mat. xiii. 20. But however terrible that day will be to the Chriftlefs world, that could never be gathered to Shiloh, when they fhall be gather. ed together in bundles, and caft into the fire of God's everlasting wrath; yet glorious, glorious will the gathering be of all the redeemed! As they will be gathered to him, fo they will be affeffors with him in judgment; "Know ye not that faints, fhall judge the world, yea, they fhall judge angels," 1 Cor. vi. 3. They fhall fit upon the bench of judgment with Chrift, and applaud him in all his judicial procedure againft wicked men and devils. Thefe, who farmerly trampled them like dirt under their feet, will then ftand, like fo many guilty pannels before them; and when the irreverfible doom goes forth, "Depart from me ye curfed, into everlafting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels," the gathered faints will joyfully adore the equity of the Judge, and will not fo much as give a figh or fob at the terror of the fentence pronounced againft the wicked, but clap their hands, and fend them to hell with a fhout. Oh! that wicked and Chriftlefs fouls would fear and tremble, and flee from the wrath to come, in the awful apprehenfion of this glorious day? Devils quake at the apprehenfion of this day; They believe, and tremble: and yet finful men are fearless. But when the great Judge will erect his fiery tribunal in the air, fee if you fhall be able to bear up, be as ftout-hearted as you can.

O man, death is infenfibly stealing away your breath; and after death, comes the judgment; and then comes the doleful gathering of the wicked to be the fuel of eternal flames: because oft he would have gathered you, as a hen does her chickens under her wings, but ye would not be gathered, therefore you will be feparated from him for ever: you would not come for his bleffing, therefore you muft depart with his curfe; "Depart

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